Samuel Chukwueze was for many the most exciting signing of AC Milan’s summer transfer window but he is yet to get his first goal and has had a difficult start.
Calciomercato.com recall that Stefano Pioli said in his pre-Dortmund press conference today that he was satisfied with Chukwueze’s contribution in the victory over Fiorentina in the league on Saturday night.
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“He often worked wide, but against Fiorentina he worked more inside to stay in the heart of the game,” he said. At the beginning of the second half he had an opportunity with a header from the centre of the area which he must build on to be more dangerous more often.
Rafael Leao and Noah Okafor’s injuries mean that Chukwueze is expected to start against Borussia Dortmund in one of the most important matches of the season. The reverse fixture ended 0-0 mainly due to his failure to take a chance when through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Bundesliga opponents hold some good memories though, such as in the quarter-finals of the 2021-22 Champions League when Chukwueze scored in the return leg at Bayern Munich and eliminated the Bavarians after a 1-0 first leg lead.
If Milan were to win tomorrow and then got the result needed against Newcastle they would seal qualification to the round of 16 which, alone, is worth around €10m. As things currently stand, the victory against PSG and the draws against Dortmund and Newcastle have brought in almost €5m in prize money, which can rise to €10m with two wins in the last two matches.
Milan’s revenue in the event of passage to the direct elimination phase would be very close to the €28m paid in the summer – a fixed part of €20m plus bonuses – for Chukwueze’s card. So if he is decisive tomorrow, he could go some way towards ‘repaying’ the investment made.
Just one good match supposedly with a goal or an assist and he will be done with repaying Milan? He was supposed to deliver every time he sets foot on the pitch. It is the end of November and he is already too late for anything. Whatever good he delivers now will just be like paying the minimum amount on a hefty credit card debt.
Can begin to repay? Can he really? We’ve already seen that he’s absolutely useless against teams who know how to defend. All Italians can. Most German can. Spanish? LOL. Not so much. He’s better off in Spain where even one-trick-ponies shine. Go ahead, prove me wrong tomorrow!
Said we should get Orsolini but fifa manager fans said that chuck will kill it in serie A and that he is very very good. Said we should get that Bakayoko kid from PSV over chucky yet again nah, he isnt good enough for Milan. SMH
Orsolini would have been great. Or Berardi. Even he still has 5-7 good years left. But no, we just HAD TO select the moneyball-option with the best THEORETICAL profit margin… That went well, eh?
Went perfectly. If it went any better we’d been 1st, undefeated in both competitions
I love how the comment heroes in a hidden web forum (a cool one!) know a lot more than both the analytics and coaching department of AC Milan.
What is hard for most humans to grasp is statistics – just because something is likely to work it doesn’t mean it will. This was a smart move that isn’t paying out, just like there are countless others. Not every player pays off every time. Any sophisticated management knows this.
it was not smart in any way. I’d say it was shortsighted and naive. Like this obsession with David.
Getting Orsolini, who was cheaper, would be smart. Getting Berardi would be a master class. But they choose a random winger from spain instead.
This is why you need more than a bunch of analytic nerds doing the scouting. Statistics don’t mean much, especially when you are talking about players in different countries, in different leagues, facing different levels of competition.
Well said, K. Well said!
@James you should have seen the comments heroes during the summer after every signing 😂😂😂
Also, not sure if you’re for or against stats? I know not all signings payoff but more than not they should work out. No? How many actually are working out in your opinion?
I would have liked Berardi. Given his age – he can easily be seen as a depreciating asset (fairly or not) , and he isn’t moving on a free transfer.
Chuky isn’t paying off – I won’t disagree there but he was clearly a smart move. The best available right winger in what was a great price given his numbers, contract and age.
To say wingers in Spain are no gopd, just on the right wing Rodrygo,Dembele (until recenently) Yamal, Pino etc. are all trash and face no competition? They face harder teams than we do most weeks so this argument is just nonsense.
no seriously? How is a winger who played 207 games for his club and scored, only, 37 goals a smart move? Those are not good numbers. Orsolini, again him, 196 games 50 goals. For BOLOGNA.
And i will remind you we already got Pulisić. Milan did not need to spend 25M on another right winger.
And i never said anything about wingers in spain, youre just making a strawman there
I think even the management thought that Chukuweze was going to be a wrecking machine and Pulisic was going to be a bencher. Well for now, Chukuweze makes me regret Messias. But again, sometimes a player is supposed to do wonders but doesn’t.
With that said, I admit I didn’t pay attention to Orsolini, but statistically he seemed way ahead of Chukuweze, he is italian, knows the serie A and is perhaps cheaper.
So perhaps getting him and using that money for a striker or a defensive midfielder would have been better.
Agreed you did not say anything about Spain – the next commenter did and I was too lazy to quote both posts.
“no seriously? How is a winger who played 207 games for his club and scored, only, 37 goals a smart move? Those are not good numbers. Orsolini, again him, 196 games 50 goals. For BOLOGNA.”
And let’s not forget that 80% of Spanish teams don’t even know how to defend. Aaaaand Serie A on the other hand is known for world-class defending. If one can score in Spain doesn’t mean he can do **** in Italy. We’ve seen that soooooooooooooooooooo many times before.
Yeah. The last player that came from spain and really had a positive effect was Ibra..but that is Ibra. And it was 10 years ago 😢
The main reason why not Italians, because if Chuck improves there are option to sell him abroad for good money..
Quite a gigantic IF though…
Chukwueze was bought to compete with Pulisic. I think the long game is to see what happens with Leao. If Leao wants to leave or a huge offer comes in similar to Tonali management will sell Leao move Pulisic to LW and keep Chukwueze at RW. If Leao wants to stay we have good options for the wings and/or possible move Pulisic or Chukwueze for a profit. Most likely situation is Mbappe leaves PSG and they come for Leao with huge offer. We then reinvest in more 20 million players and hope some/one of them develop into world class player(s) and repeat same cycle. Sad but unless our management team is willing to keep our top talent and pay to bring in more top talent this is our fate. Thank you money ball.
Chuks is a very good player and even way better than Rafa. How many seasons did Rafa start showing promise under Pioli.
Chukwueze is one of the good players Milan has, that works better with brilliant coaching.
Sadly Pioli is not a coach, so it will take a while for good players like Chuks, Okafor and Pulisic to really show you what they are made of.
#PioliOut
If he really was better he would have been a starter for Milan. He is the same age as Leao, yet one is considered among the best lw in the world and the other is just a random dude that came from villareal.
Now dont get me wrong, i like Chukwueze, im sure he can do much better than he did so far from Milan, but realistically speaking he isnt even among top 20 of world right wingers.. Thats a fact!
I wouldnt put Pulisic among top 20 rw either